Another Moonbat Academic

Tell me again why tenure is a good idea…

California professor flunks Kuwaiti’s pro-U.S. essay

A 17-year-old Kuwaiti student whose uncles were kidnapped and tortured by Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein’s invaders more than a decade ago said his California college political science professor failed him for praising the United States in a final-exam essay last month.

Ahmad Al-Qloushi, a foreign student at Foothill College near San Jose, Calif., said he was told by professor Joseph A. Woolcock to get psychological treatment because of the pro-American views expressed in his essay.

“Apparently, if you are an Arab Muslim who loves America, you must be deranged,” said Mr. Al-Qloushi, who feared the failing grade could cost him his student visa.

“I didn’t want to be deported for having written a pro-American essay, so as soon as I left his office, I made an appointment with the school psychologist,” he said.

Mr. Woolcock did not respond to telephone and e-mail inquiries. College officials declined to comment, saying it is a confidential matter because Mr. Al-Qloushi and Mr. Woolcock have filed complaints.

This is microcosm of what, I think, is wrong with academia today. Rather than being a home for free thought and ideas as they routinely espouse, it has become a home of intolerance and group think.

And I can tall you from first hand experience that anyone criticizing this teacher will be attacked for trying to stifle academic freedom. Irony is lost on the dumb.

(Having said the above, the kid could have failed the paper and made the quote up. OR potentially the most likely scenario is that the kid failed the paper because he can’t write AND the Professor is a moonbat. I’d pay 10 bucks to see the paper. Still, if the quote is accurate, the Professor is the one who needs both psychological therapy and a pink slip.)

Update The (as yet unverified) paper can be found here. (I’ve only skim read the first half.)

As many of you know there are a few Poli Sci professor bloggers. I emailed James Joyner and Steven Taylor and asked if they would mind grading one more paper. I’ll (probably) reserve any comment until I read what they say. Still, the nature of the assignment itself appears to lends credence to the fact the professor is a goofball.

BTW- The quality of the paper and the level of goofballedness of the professor do not have to correlate in any way.

Update 2: Poli Sci Professor Steven Taylor has his say. He gives it a “low D.” I agree with 99.99% of what Steven says but I will excerpt the kid in his own defense.

The United States constitution might have excluded the majority of people at the time. But it progressed and America like every nation in the world progressed

So the kid did at least stumble into answering the question. (albeit for only a mere sentence fragment)

By and large (as always) the liberals will focus on the fact that a 17 year old Kuwaiti kid has trouble with english as if that is somehow an excuse for the professor telling the kid that if he liked America he needed psychological therapy. Conversely, conservatives will find the offense of the professor far more egregious than a kid failing a paper.

My bottom line is this. If the professor really said it, he should be canned.

Update 3: James Joyner must have been longing for his red pen days.– And his subject line sums the whole thing up.

AND Leopold Stotch, also a blogging Poli Sci professor says, “I doubt I would have given him more than a D” in the comments.

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113 Comments

  1. Rob Hackney January 18, 2005
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